14 comments:

I think that most people would see themselves as moral because they see themselves as supporting the right political causes, or because they see themselves as following the right rules. The exceptions, I think, would be with sexual ethics and with certain sorts of conduct (e.g., I get really drunk on the weekends), but mostly, I think, people would see themselves as occupying the highest percentile of morality, just like they see themselves as occupying the highest percentile of intelligence, or fitness, etc., etc.

My answer would be the secular equivalent of Mr. Prokop's answer: I don't know what percentile I would give myself but I would concede that I do immoral things all the time. I try to minimize the harm it inflicts onto others and attempt to improve, so I guess I would not rate myself at the bottom either though.I nteresting food for thought!

I love your website. I've been visiting here since my middle son became interested in philosophy. But, I notice you do not engage in the conversation often. I also wonder if you throw ideas out there just to see what the minions say?

I am least moral when I am content in my moral "rating." I am quick to justify questionable decisions and motivations. Morality increases with my realization of my moral poverty. The more moral I become, the less moral I feel. I can only uncover the opportunities of right behavior as I live rightly. It is only safe to rate myself as the worst of sinners.

Lack of guilt is the mark of a sociopath. Fortunately, most of us are not sociopaths, not even atheists. However, it is undeniable that religious institutions instill a sense of guilt in their followers. The Catholic church teaches little children that they are sinners - born that way - even before it can be meaningfully said that they are guilty of something. They would have us all believe that the only way we can shed ourselves of this guilt is to abandon reason and accept the sacrificial blood of Jesus as our atonement. It's no wonder that you feel guiltier even as you try to become more moral.

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About Me

I am the author of C. S. Lewis's Dangerous Idea: In Defense of the Argument from Reason, published by Inter-Varsity Press. I received a Ph.D in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989.